


Missing You

by tatooedlaura



Series: Life [17]
Category: The X-Files
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-26
Updated: 2016-11-26
Packaged: 2018-09-02 08:40:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8660278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tatooedlaura/pseuds/tatooedlaura
Summary: With an eyebrow raise mirroring some of Scully’s best, “I wonder if we should be concerned that our shit list has the potential to be very long given it took us all of 30 seconds to come up with just the first four.”





	

The earliest of dawn seeping around the closed curtains of the room made her stir, the gray twilight waking her brain in slow increments, one neuron at a time. Whatever was beneath didn’t feel like the hammock. She recalled lying down in the backyard at some point but things quickly turned fuzzy after that. She must have somehow fallen asleep for the night because the grey light around her told her it was morning. Opening her eyes slowly, she recognized her childhood room, making her realize that at some point she managed to get herself in the house and upstairs.

What was more troubling now that more neurons were firing and synapses were connecting was the fact that she was so very warm and so very comfortable. Then, her smile spread wide involuntarily and she carefully rolled over, leaving the heavy arm draped over her side, his limp hand trailing against her skin to rest on her back once she had pulled her 180.

He wasn’t the dream she’d imagined the night before. He was there, sound asleep, fingers in the dip of her back, palm setting a slow burn to her soul. Gently moving her own hand up to his face, she began caressing his chin lightly, running her fingers back and forth, thumb running over his closed lips. Shifting next to his cheekbone, then eyebrows, she traced his face over and over until finally, she saw his eyes begin to twitch under closed lids. In the softest voice possible, barely louder than settling leaves from a late autumn tree, “you came home.”

His lips curving upwards for the quickest of moments, he whispered back to her, “I drove all evening. Didn’t even stop to pee.”

Stretching herself languidly against him, molding warm limb to warm limb, “why?”

“This. You. Us.” He didn’t care at this point, still half-drunk on his partner’s mere existence, if his soul came pouring out, covering her in all manner of life-altering confessions, “I missed everything.”

Shutting her eyes, she snuggled under his chin, “I missed you, too. This week has been long and very, very dull.”

“So I’m only here for the entertainment, I see how it is.”

She laughed into his skin, a warm, chuffing puff of air that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, “and for a few other things.”

“Namely?”

“Reaching top shelves, lifting heavy things, chasing after bad guys, keeping me warm when necessary.”

“So I tell you that I drove endless hours to get home to my brilliant, know-it-all partner and she tells me she needs shit off the top shelf. Should have saved the gas money.”

Circling his side the best she could, she hugged him tight, “I’m also hungry and need someone to cook the bacon.”

Laughing himself by now, semi-glad his serious confession didn’t freak her out and from the looks of it, she didn’t take too seriously herself, he nodded into the top of her head, “better hope Maggie has some bacon stashed down there or you’re going to the store.”

Scully lifted her head so quickly she knocked into Mulder’s chin, “shit, I forgot we were at mom’s. Did you bring me upstairs or was I already up here when you get here?”

“I showed up while everyone was still here and Maggie pointed me in your direction and I lay down with you and fell asleep and then a storm came in and I carried you up here.”

He said it in such a normal, everyday voice that Scully had to smile, “you seem to be carrying me around an awful lot lately.”

“We all need a lift every now and again.” His stomach growled and he grinned, “now, I recall something about bacon.”

“Bacon.” Moving to roll away from him, he held her tight for one last moment, “and work. I hate work. I don’t want to do it today.”

“We, you mean.”

“You don’t have to go in, Skinner still thinks you’re gone but I do and I’m going to be late as it is. I’ve got to get home and shower still.”

Pushing her lightly against her abdomen, “get out.”

&&&&&&&&

Maggie wandered down at the smell of nearly burned bacon, following her nose to the heavenly goodness in her kitchen. She was not disappointed. The mound of bacon sitting on a plate in the middle of the kitchen island surrounded by her daughter, her Fox and her large bottle of maple syrup made her very happy and very hungry, “morning. I see you found the bacon.”

Crunching down on a syrup-dripping piece with ecstatic pleasure, “we did. Cooked to within an inch of its life, just like always.”

Mulder turned on his stool, “morning, Maggie. Thanks for letting me stay last night.”

“Anytime, Fox. I’m glad you two made it inside before the rain.” Helping herself to food, “are we having anything else or is bacon the meal?”

Scully, who loved her bacon, shrugged, “this is as far as we got.”

Brushing her hands together, Maggie headed to the freezer, “frozen waffles coming up.”

Bacon sandwiches eaten, Scully groaned after looking at the kitchen clock, “I really need to go. I’m going to be at least an hour late as it is.”  
Mulder stood, moving to wash their bacon pan, leaving Scully to dry it a minute later, “I’ll go with you. I want to go grab some things to read for when I head back up to mom.”

“When are you going, Fox?”

“Tomorrow or Sunday, depending on when she’s being released. I’ll find out when I call in a little while.” Drying his hands on his jeans, he looked at Scully, “ready to go?”

Soon they were parting ways, separate apartments, separate errands but they met back in the basement about an hour and a half later, Mulder already in his chair when she walked in, “woman, what did you do to this office?”

“Moved things. Found examples for class. Discovered a magazine from 1992 under the cabinet over there and found a mouse skeleton under that weird, sonographic thingy back there.” Pointing towards the back of room, “It’s been an adventure.”

“Did you keep the skeleton?”

Amused by the eagerness in his voice, she grinned, nodding towards the file cabinet behind him, “I put it behind you. The little plastic box on top of the file cabinet.”

“Have I mentioned lately that I love my weird little scientific, mouse-skeleton saving partner?”

“You have now. I’ll mark it down somewhere so I don’t forget you called me weird.”

“Thanks.”

&&&&&&&&&&&

Mulder hid in the basement the rest of the day while Scully, much to her chagrin, got called up to see AD Kersh. Shooting a fairly disgusted look in Mulder’s direction, “wish me luck.”

“Good luck. Don’t tell him I’m down here.”

“Coward.”

She returned not too long after, a look on her face that told him shit was not going to go well in the near future. Standing, he moved to the front of the desk, leaning against it, arms folded, “what’s wrong?”

Scully shrugged, “nothing’s wrong, really but since you’re gone, he’s shipping me out to Iowa. They have an overabundance of bodies in a mass grave and need a set of hands who’s done this kind of thing before.”

“Who’s in charge out there? Anybody we know?”

This is where she dropped her eyes and this is where his stomach clenched, “um, yeah, actually. Tom Colton.”

Mulder saw red for several seconds before his blood pressure dropped back to mere explosive levels, “Colton? That fucker still works for the FBI? I’m gonna fly out there with you and kill him, if you don’t mind.”

She’d been dreading this since she heard Colton’s name ten minutes earlier and wrapping her hands around Mulder’s folded forearms, “I do mind because that’ll cause entirely too much paperwork and then with you in prison for the next 20 years, I won’t have anyone to help me cheat during Rummy with the ladies. I need you, Mulder, to help me win.”

He was not amused but he relaxed somewhat, “I hate that guy, Scully. I mean, I really hate that guy.”

If she didn’t lighten the mood now, he’d been in a terrible place heading back to his mother’s, “more than Cancerman?”

He saw right through her but went along, “no, not more than Cancerman.”

“More than Krychek?”

“Definitely not more than Krychek.”

“What about Blevins? Do you hate him more than Blevins?”

“Scully …”

“Answer, please.”

“No, I do not hate Colton more than I hate Blevins.”

“Then believe me when I say I’ll be fine. I can deal with his jackassness any day of the week and twice on Sunday if necessary.”

Giving in, he took a deep breath, “I don’t hate him as much as that asshole Peyton Ritter either.”

“See, right off the top of our collective heads we hate four people more than Tom Colton. Focus on that and this week should go by in a snap.”  
With an eyebrow raise mirroring some of Scully’s best, “I wonder if we should be concerned that our shit list has the potential to be very long given it took us all of 30 seconds to come up with just the first four.”

“We’ll work on it some other time. Right now, I need to go pack and get on a plane.”

“Want me to schedule the flight?”

“Yes, please. Oakton, Iowa and can you get me a car, too, please?”


End file.
